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He glanced up, expecting to see his twin, but it wasn’t Wyatt clomping out on the wooden slats. It was…Teresa.
She looked beautiful that night.
Jeans, sneakers, a simple T-shirt. Her hair pulled back into a ponytail. No makeup.
No pretense.
Just…Teresa.
And she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
But she didn’t seem to see him sitting in the corner of the deck, and in fairness, he’d purposely taken the area that was mostly in shadows because he’d just needed some time alone.
In the Hutchins family, there wasn’t much to be said for alone time.
Normally, he would have said something to announce himself, would have made some snarky comment just to have her snapping back at him. In fact, he’d opened his mouth to do so, but before he could, he saw it.
It.
She wiped her eye.
Then the other.
And fuck…was she crying?
He’d hopped to his feet before he even processed he was moving. “Teresa?”
She jumped, spinning toward him and clamping a hand to her chest. “What the fuck, Jeremy?”
He was hauling ass toward her, fingers coming to her jaw, turning it toward the lights, and yeah,there. Her eyes were damp, tears glistening on the ends of her lashes. “What’s the matter, T? Who hurt you? I’ll—”
She huffed out a laugh, shook her head. “You can’t help but be a protective older brother, can you?”
What he felt for Teresa was the furthest thing from brotherly there was.
“This isn’t about me, baby.” He slid his hand to her nape, holding her in place. “This is about why you’re crying.”
She rolled her eyes. “I have plenty of annoying older brothers, Jer. I don’t need you to join their ranks.”
His fingers flexed. “What. Happened?”
A sigh. “Seriously?”
He just held her stare.
She sighed again, but probably because she had experience with annoying older brothers, she gave in—saved them both the trouble by not drawing out the locking of horns. But she didn’t do that giving in softly, it was laced with plenty of fire and spice, plenty ofTeresa.“For fuck’s sake,” she snapped. “It’s nothing, okay? Sam broke up with me. That’s all. My ex-boyfriend is an asshole and—”
“Did he hurt you?”
Was that question too intense considering he had no claim over this woman?
Yes.
Did he care?
Nope.
Teresa glanced over his shoulder, but he didn’t miss her rolling her eyes again. Nor did he miss the way that roll of her eyes felt in his heart, how it amused him, tempered the edge of his anger, let that haze of fury ease, especially when she explained, “He dumped me. So, it’s not like that feels good, but no, he didn’t physically touch me in any way that I didn’t like.” She glanced back at him. “Or yell, or threaten, or get in my face,” she added, stymieing his next questions. “Sam just…stepped on my heart, okay? And that sucks.” She wrinkled her nose. “Not thatyou’dknow that, considering you’re so fucking hot girls are throwing themselves at you.”
